Ancestral Roofs

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Not Fair

Allow me to whine a bit. During Shannon Kyle's Ontario Architecture course several years ago, I became intrigued with a house in Dundas - the place was called Mount Fairview.

My imagination (and sympathies) were aroused when I learned that the first settler in the area was a widow Morden, who settled at the head of Lake Ontario, on a patch of water we now call Coote's Paradise. (Coote's Paradise was the name of the village that grew in the area, and later combined with another early settlement to create Dundas.)

In 1848 wealthy merchant Hugh Moore built this fine Greek Revival home on the top of Cotton Mill Hill, on land bought from the widow. 'The jewel on the brow of Dundas' as it was called, takes full advantage of its hilltop setting with wraparound verandahs and a roof walk with belvedere. Two storey tall Ionic pillars grace the south (invisible to the prying eye) facade. The square building is brick clad in stucco.

Denis and I navigated from Ancaster to Dundas, and came upon South Street, where I'd hoped to capture my prize, a good look (and some good shots) of Mount Fairview. Alas, that was not to be.

A few trips up the side street, raising the suspicions of house-proud neighbours, revealed nothing but a glimpse of the gardens, wrought iron fencing and the rooftop belvedere.

A wander along South Street, and Mount Fairview remained elusive. I believe that the property may have been severed, and infill homes built, including the one that stands between me and my quarry.

Great Architecture quotes

"The sins of the Architect are permanent sins" Frank Lloyd Wright, 1914

"In the end, we conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." ~Baba Dioum, Senegalese poet (Posted in January on the ACO Acorn online)

"It is forbidden to disfigure external decorations on private buildings through modern additions and to spoil historic buildings in an important town out of avarice and the desire to make money." - Theodosius, Valentinianus, Arcadius (309 A.D.)

"It has been said that at its best, preservation engages the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future" - William Murtagh (1988)

"Preservationists are the only people in the world who are invariably confirmed in their wisdom after the fact". - John Kenneth Galbraith (1979)

"A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines" - Frank Lloyd Wright

"Architecture is the art of how to waste space" - Philip Johnson

"Architecture is frozen music" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Photo Gallery

"Caught in passing"

Striker/Walmsley House 1868

Albert Street beauty

Fort William Collegiate Institute - "they don't make 'em like they used to"